Halloween 2011

Well, we have celebrated Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, and about to celebrate Valentine's Day but I am just now blogging about Halloween:) LOL!!!!

So, we have started a little tradition on Halloween that I LOVE a few years ago. We invite our neighbors over for a potluck dinner and we set it up on our front drive way... the most amazing food ever! I make chili, Gretchen makes the most delicious pulled pork ever, Andi makes a chili and we all do a desert too... then everyone else brings other sides, etc! It is almost better than Thanksgiving Dinner:) Also, it is kind of a huge party because everyone is allowed to invite anyone... so we invited our friends from another neighborhood that we hardly ever see anymore, Gretchen invited some neighbors that live a few streets over and they had met at the school bus stop... you get the picture... it is just a total blast!

We block off the street and the kids just go crazy... ride their bikes, run around and enjoy hanging out with each other...

Our Friends... The Santner Family

Mike, Gretchen, Rianne, and...

their brand new baby DYLAN!

My family

I didn't get pictures of everyone because it is kind of hectic with all of the kids running around... then when it gets dark, we go trick or treating! It is more like the army brigade goes trick or treating because we totally show up like the SWAT team... all 10,000 kids at one time demanding candy! It was CRAZY.... completely crazy fun! I am so bummed because I didn't take my camera with me when we went walking:( I am not sure if the economy is in a state of recovery or if our neighborhood was just in the spirit but Halloween this year was crazy amazing... there were multiple homes that had complete haunted houses set up, one had hired actors for this whole shin dig, several had complete light shows and music timed to the lights... it was A.M.A.Z.I.N.G.

But when the clock strikes 7, we have a little one that demands her crib! So, we put her down and the party continued...

After trick or treating, we come back and set up fire pits in the front driveway... roast marshmallows, talk until late and let the kids dig into their candy treasure... it is a completely magical night!